


From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea

by januarylily



Category: Percy Jackson & The Olympians (Movies), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: OC fanfic, percy jackson - Freeform, sisfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-31 00:03:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13962963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/januarylily/pseuds/januarylily
Summary: Honestly, I should have known better. I should have known that things were too good to be true. I should have known that my life was about to go from bad to worse. And I should have known it would be all my brother's fault.





	1. Introducing Ophelia, Percy's better half

Honestly, I should have known better. I should have known that things were too good to be true. I should have known that my life was about to go from bad to worse. And I should have known it would be all my brother's fault.

Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking, it couldn't be all my brother's fault, right? Well, I suppose that's true. But this is my story. Not his. I know, I know, I'm sure you're thinking that you've heard it all before. That my story won't be anything new or exciting. That might very well be true, but like I said, this is my story and I'm gonna share it because someone (Yes, Percy, I'm talking about you.) has a nasty habit of leaving out very important details. Like the fact that I exist and got thrown on this roller coaster of an adventure with him.

You see, my name is Ophelia Jackson and I'm Percy's twin. Much like my brother who doesn't go by his given name, I'm the same way. I go by Lia. Lia. It's short and sweet, right? Kinda like me. Now, where was I? Oh, right. I was about to tell you about the time I almost died on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And like I said before, it was all my brother's fault. Go figure.

Mr. Brunner the Latin teacher at Yancy Academy was droning on about one of the exhibits. I tried my hardest to pay attention. I really did. But my ADHD had once again reared its ugly head. I glanced at my brother who stood next to his roommate Grover. I could tell that he too was facing the same battle. My only consolation was that I seemed to be managing it much better than him, but it's not like it was a contest or anything. In all honesty, the person I felt the sorriest for was my mother. Having to put up with two troubled kids, like Percy and me, couldn't have been easy. Sometimes, I couldn't understand how or why she did it. But yet she did. I was told love made people do otherwise crazy things.

When I caught Mr. Brunner's eye, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans and prayed he didn't call on me. He opened his mouth and I thought that maybe my prayer had been bounced-back, like a bad email, but then my brother had to go and say something stupid.

"Will you shut up?" Percy's voice echoed across the room. Suddenly, the children burst into laughter and everyone's attention turned toward Percy, including Mr. Brunner's.

I looked at my brother and saw him looking sheepishly at the ground. Clearly, he hadn't meant for everyone to hear his words and I knew he would never tell Mr. Brunner to shut up. If there was one teacher at Yancy that Percy liked and respected, it was Mr. Brunner. The only positive about the situation was that my prayer seemed to have been answered because Mr. Brunner directed his words toward Percy. "Mr. Jackson, did you have a comment?" he asked.

Percy's face turned red. Like bright red, cherry tomato red. Still looking at the floor, Percy muttered, "No, sir."

Mr. Brunner then went on to ask Percy a question about something or another, I'm not exactly sure. I got distracted...again. But Mrs. Dodds was suddenly by your side, intently staring at you, I bet you'd get distracted too.

Mrs. Dodds was my math teacher and the phrase scary as hell seemed to be an understatement for her. Why someone ever thought it would be a good idea to allow her around children is beyond me. Sure, there probably hadn't been a lot of candidates for a mid-year replacement, but it wouldn't have surprised me if Mrs. Dodds had intimidated them into hiring her. Despite her small stature, a single glance from her could send shivers up your spine.

And my spine was certainly shivering. Especially when she rested her hand on my shoulder. Why was she singling me out right now? It was Percy who had acted up...not me. I mean, sure occasionally I was known to act up, but the only thing I was guilty of since entering the museum was not paying attention and the same went for about 90% of the class. There was no reason to pick on me. So, I tried to ignore her. But the thing about Mrs. Dodds is that there's this creepy thing about her that one just can't ignore. It's like she knows you're trying to ignore her and then she makes things worse.

"Now, honey," Mrs. Dodds whispered in my ear.

"Yes, Mrs. Dodds?" I stammered, trying to make my voice sound as sweet as possible, hoping that somehow she would backoff..literally.

'Now, honey, come with me," Mrs. Dodds said pulling back on my shoulder, her fingernails digging into my shoulder. But her fingernails didn't feel like fingernails. They felt more like claws latching onto me. I tried to shake her off, but her grip remained tight.

"Let. Go," I hissed. I glanced at her hand, which I probably shouldn't have done, and I could have sworn that I saw talons digging into my shoulder. Talons? That couldn't be right. I blinked several times trying to see straight, but it didn't help and her grip tightened as she attempted to slowly pull me backward. "Stop!" I screamed, my voice reverberating through the large room. I almost thought my shrill tone was going to shatter something.

And just as Percy had done moments before, now all eyes were on me. My face flushed and I tried to bury my face in the hood of my sweatshirt when I caught Mr. Brunner's eye. He was probably thinking something about those Jackson twins always causing trouble, but I couldn't focus on that because I suddenly saw Mrs. Dodds standing behind him. My brow furrowed in confusion. How the hell had she gotten over there? Mr. Brunner was on the other side of the room and there was no way Mrs. Dodds could have gotten over there in a matter of a couple seconds. There was no possible way. Like, none whatsoever.

Mr. Brunner looked at me curiously as if he wanted to say something, but instead, he turned toward Mrs. Dodds. "Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside? It's time for lunch."

Mrs. Dodds narrowed her eyes at me and for a moment, I thought I saw her eyes flicker. But that was crazy talk. Eyes don't flicker. As I rubbed my face, trying to get some grip back on reality, Mrs. Dodds led the other students outside.

"Jacksons," Mr. Brunner called. It was obvious he wanted to talk to us about our behaviors and I didn't want to talk about. Not when I was seeing things.

I did the worst possible thing you could probably do to a teacher who was bound in a motorized wheelchair. I ran. Realizing how stupid and immature that was, as I was running, I shouted the word "bathroom" hoping that Mr. Brunner would understand that it was some kind of emergency. I just hoped he didn't send Mrs. Dodds after me.

I escaped to the women's restroom and locked myself in a stall for a couple minutes and just sat on the toilet. "Just breathe. Just breathe. Just breathe." I reminded myself. I tried convincing myself that what I had seen wasn't real. That it was just my mind playing tricks on me. But truth was, I was terrified. The last thing my mother needed was to have a basket case for a daughter. We didn't have that kind of money. We didn't even have the money to send both Percy and me to Yancy.

When I finally felt that I had composed myself, at least enough to leave the bathroom stall, I walked to the sink. I leaned against the sink and looked at my reflection. Curious, I tugged at my sweatshirt to reveal my bare shoulder in the mirror. Sure enough, there appeared to be claw marks. I shook my head and released my hold on my sweatshirt, letting it fall back into place. There had to be some logical reason why those marks were on my shoulder, right? Perhaps something happened that I didn't remember. Maybe I was blacking something out. Like...maybe I ran into a cat or something. Yeah, that had to be it. Teachers didn't have talons. I sighed. I really hoped I didn't have to see a shrink about any of this.

I then caught a glance of my puffy red eyes. Yes, I allowed some tears to be shed while I was hiding out in the bathroom stall, but I didn't want anyone to know I had been crying. So, I turned on the sink and splashed water on my face. Immediately, I began to feel better. My eyes returned to normal and I felt somewhat rejuvenated, but I still couldn't take my mind off the scratches. I pulled my sweatshirt again, but this time, I was surprised to see that the marks no longer remained. I gasped. Had I made the entire thing up?

But I didn't have time to focus on the tricks my mind was playing on me because Nancy Bobofit entered the bathroom. I didn't like Nancy Bobofit any more than my brother Percy did, but unlike him, I knew better than to engage or provoke her. Not that it always worked. Most of the time, she picked on me simply because I was Percy's sister which was apparently a good enough reason for her.

I tried to just walk past her, but she must have purposely come for me because she made sure no one was looking before she shoved me against the wall. Using her arm, she pinned my shoulders back. I looked her directly in the eyes. "If you don't do what we both know you're about to do, I'll give you my lunch," I bargained.

For a moment, she seemed to entertain the idea, but clearly, my lunch wasn't worth the satisfaction she would receive from hurting me because she responded, "I don't think so, freak."

I knew what came next. I closed my eyes to brace for impact when suddenly, I felt an odd sensation in my stomach. Next thing I knew, I heard Nancy Bobofit scream along with the sound of rushing water. I slowly opened one eye to see that the pipes beneath the sink next to me had exploded and water was gushing from them, spraying Nancy Bobofit. Not wanting to wait around for Nancy to come to her sense, I hightailed it out of the bathroom.

I ran past the security people who yelled for me to stop running and I didn't stop until I was outside. For a moment, I stopped to catch my breath. Even if Nancy Bobofit had run after me, I knew I had a few seconds to breathe because she couldn't run quite as fast as me. I looked up at the sky overhead. A giant storm was brewing. The weather seemed as troubled as I was these days. One day it would, the next massive flooding. And then wildfires. I couldn't keep up with it all. But perhaps it would cause people to recognize that global warming was actually a thing.

I caught sight of Percy waving at me. He was sitting beside the fountain with Grover. I waved back at my brother and descended the stairs of the MET, where most of my classmates sat eating their lunches. I was glad Percy had chosen a spot away from everyone. I really wasn't much of a people person. The fact that I hadn't made a single friend at Yancy was proof. I mean, even Percy managed to make a friend. I mean, don't get me wrong. Grover's friendly enough and there were times I might have considered calling him a friend, but he was definitely more Percy's friend than mine. Although, Percy said it was because I pushed Grover away. I had a tendency to do that: push people away. It was easier to keep people at arm's length than let them in. But for now, Percy and Grover were exactly what I needed.

Without saying anything, I sat down beside my brother, opposite the side of Grover, who was eating an apple. "Where were you?" Percy asked. "Brunner wanted to talk to us."

"Bathroom," I said, technically not lying, but not giving him more than that.

Percy didn't quite seem to buy it. He looked at me and our eyes met. Our eyes were the same color, something we had inherited from our father. And call me crazy, but it seemed to cause a connection between us. Now, I know people say that twins have this certain, unexplainable connection, but if that was true, Percy and I seemed to have amplified connection. Using our twin connection, Percy must have sensed something was wrong because his brow furrowed. "What's going on with you, Lia?" he asked.

I chewed on my lip. I wasn't sure whether to lie to him or tell him the truth. My brother was like the only person I trusted in the world, but I couldn't bear the thought of him thinking I was crazy. "Nothing," I said, trying to shrug it off, but again, he wasn't buying it.

"Lia," he said nudging me. I tried not responding. But he nudged me again. Percy always knew how to make me cave. Sometimes, I hated being a twin. Don't get me wrong, I loved my brother, but he knew me too well.

I sighed. "I just feel like everything that could go wrong today, is going wrong."

"Don't say that," Grover whispered looking rather paranoid, glancing over his shoulder. "Take it back. When you say stuff like that it always gets worse."

I rolled my eyes. "I mean, first Mrs. Dodds…"

"What about her?" Percy interrupted. I looked at my brother with an annoyed expression. I knew he had a thing about Mrs. Dodds, but still.

I looked around to make sure Mrs. Dodds wasn't in earshot. She was too busy not paying attention to children, so then I whispered to my brother. "It was weird. She was trying to get me to go somewhere and...and for a moment there, I thought she had…" I barely choked out the last word. "Talons."

Grover's eyes got wide for a second, but then he seemed to remember that he needed to keep his composure or something. "What is your problem?" I asked him.

He stayed silent for a moment before he said, "Indigestion."

I rolled my eyes again. "I mean, I'm sure it was my mind playing tricks on me, but that was why I screamed. It was like Mrs. Dodds wanted me to go somewhere with her. It was kinda creepy. And if that wasn't bad enough, Nancy Bobofit cornered me in the bathroom...and a sink exploded."

Grover seemed to choke on his apple and a rather odd noise escaped from his lips. "Seriously, dude?" I hissed. I normally wasn't this moody with Grover, but he was just annoying me at this point. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself while Percy looked at me worriedly. I knew the kind of stuff I just described sounded crazy, so I hastily added, "Don't tell, Mom."

That was always our catch-all, which we honestly used quite frequently. Like the time Percy accidentally set off a Revolutionary War cannon...or the time our class unexpectedly took a swim in the Marine World. Granted, Mom found out about this stuff anyway, but not from me. I kept my mouth shut and never uttered a word. I mean, obviously, there was more. But Don't tell, Mom was a code Percy and I always abided by. Always.

"So, what did Brunner want?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, you know, the usual: I expect better from you, you need to know this stuff because somehow it will apply in real life, kinda stuff."

"Yeah, you're right. Pretty normal for you." I glanced up at him and smirked. Percy let out a chuckle and then gently pushed me. "Oh, it's on," I laughed as I reached into the fountain and splashed him. Without hesitation, Percy reached over and splashed me back. I giggled.

I was just about to siege my next attack against my brother when Grover said, "We got company." Both Percy and I turned to see Nancy Bobofit approaching us...and she didn't look happy, but this time, she had her friends with her. If one could really call them that.

I don't think Percy realized he did it, but he put his arm in front me, placing himself between myself and Nancy. He was always doing that...which was part of the reason he got into trouble more than I did. "This is between me and her, punk," Nancy scoffed at Percy, her wet hair clinging to her face. I wasn't sure whether she was more terrifying dry...or wet. Although, she did kinda look like a wet sloth.

"Leave her alone," Percy said.

"Oh?" Nancy asked. "Well, then, if you won't give us her…" Nancy's gaze zeroed-in on Grover. She grunted something her friends seemed to understand because they seemed to now inch closer to Grover. Nancy grabbed Grover's lunch and dumped it on his lap before she gave him a shove, sending him falling into the fountain.

Then, everything seemed to happen so fast that I could barely discern what actually happened. But suddenly, Nancy Bobofit was in the fountain, being bombarded by cascading water, screaming that Percy had pushed her and Mrs. Dodds had materialized next to us. I was so confused. What was happening today?

Nancy Bobofit crawled out of the fountain, putting on the waterworks for Mrs. Dodds. "Percy pushed me into the fountain! All I wanted to do was ask his sister why she sprayed me with water in the bathroom."

"I didn't!" I snapped. "The sink exploded while you were about to punch me!"

That was definitely the wrong thing to do. I should have kept my mouth shut, but sometimes, it gets the better of me. Mrs. Dodds looked between Percy and me, with an expression on her face like Christmas had just come early. It was almost smiling. Almost. But much creepier. After Mrs. Dodds told Nancy that they would buy her a new shirt from the gift shop, she turned toward Percy and me and told us to come with her.

Grover, who was still wringing out his shirt, yelped, "Wait! It was me! I pushed her...and rigged the bathroom sink."

My brow furrowed. Why would he take credit for that? Especially when he obviously hadn't? It was even more impressive knowing that Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.

Mrs. Dodds glared at him with the coldest expression I've ever seen her give, and I've seen a lot of cold expressions from her. "I don't think so, Mr. Underwood."

"But-"

"You-will-stay-here."

Grover looked at Percy and me desperately. I had never seen such an expression on his face before. There was something more to it. Something that I didn't quite understand until later. But Percy just seemed to shrug it off. "We'll be fine, man," Percy said. "It's not the first time we've gotten in trouble."

But I could tell by Grover and Mrs. Dodds' expressions, that this was different. I just didn't know how or why. Mrs. Dodds then yelled for us to follow her immediately and Nancy Bobofit seemed rather pleased with herself.

Percy and I turned to follow Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. "What the-" Percy muttered, but I nudged him and pointed at a sight that completely terrified us both. Somehow, Mrs. Dodds had gotten to the top of the steps, near the entrance to the museum and was impatiently motioning for us to come on.

If only I had refused. Then maybe, I wouldn't have almost died. But instead, I followed on as I was told.


	2. The Story of How I Died...Almost

Percy and I walked up the steps outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Something wasn't sitting quite right with me. Things just felt off. Of course, I probably should have recognized that when my math teacher seemed to disappear from where I last saw her and appeared somewhere further inside the museum. But I told myself that it was my mind playing tricks. It always did that. Mrs. Dodds must have been standing inside the entrance hall the entire time. It was only later that I realized that there was no way I could have seen her inside the entrance hall from where I stood near the fountain.

As Percy and I walked into the museum, I glanced at him. "What do you think she's gonna do?" I whispered to my brother.

"Probably something stupid like buying Nancy Bobofit a new shirt," Percy muttered. "Mom's gonna love that. New York gift shops are expensive."

"Do you think they have a clearance section?" I asked hopefully. Because if Mrs. Dodds made us buy something full price we would eventually face the wrath of Gabe, something I tried to avoid at all costs. I was better at avoiding it than Percy. Something about Percy set Gabe off more than me. I think I had inherited more of my mother's temperament than he had, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. While putting up with crap could sometimes be the simpler option it didn't leave any outlet to deal with those emotions until they came crashing out like a tidal wave. No, I really wasn't all that much better than my brother.

Anyway, Percy and I entered the gift shop, but it seemed like Mrs. Dodds was leading us on a wild goose chase. She led us through the gift shop and back into the museum. Percy and I looked at each other warily. Were we allowed to do this? It was usually standard practice that you were done touring the museum once you hit the gift shop, but Mrs. Dodds seemed to have other plans.

Again, I had a feeling that something wasn't quite right. I stopped and grabbed my brother's arm. "Percy, maybe we should go back my Mr. Brunner."

He tried to pull his arm away from me, but I had a tight death grip on it. Percy groaned. "Do you want to piss Mrs. Dodds off more than she already is?" he asked.

"No, but Mr. Brunner…"

"He watched the whole thing, Lia. If Mr. Brunner didn't approve he would have said or done something." Percy finally managed to push my hand off his arm. When his arm was free he gave it a couple shakes, like he was trying to get the feeling back. "Now come on."

"Percy." I knew I sounded whiny and like a three-year-old, but Percy ignored my pleas. Percy turned away and walked back into the museum.

I looked back at the exit to the gift shop. The line of people seemed to have shifted so that they were blocking the exit to the gift shop. Strange. Why on earth would they be standing that way? But I didn't have long to ponder the situation because Percy's hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me toward the museum.

"If she asks why we took so long, I'm blaming you," Percy muttered.

I rolled my eyes. Brothers were complicated creatures. One minute they're protecting you from all evil and the next they throw you under the bus. It was easy to get whiplash when having a brother.

We had barely entered the Medieval Art section when Mrs. Dodds disappeared and reappeared in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts section. We wove in and out of the exhibits until she decided to take us through the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. At the time I didn't notice, but there were less and less people in every exhibit we went through until we finally ended up in an empty Greek and Roman Art section.

Mrs. Dodds stood in front of a marble frieze of the Greek gods with her arms folded across her chest. Clearly, she meant business. But her stance wasn't the only terrifying thing. No, she was also making a strange growling noise.

Percy and I looked at each other. He held his hand out in a balled fist. I knew what that meant. I copied his gesture. We raised and lowered our fists three times. Percy's fingers made a scissors while I left my hand in a fist. He groaned. "Always with the scissors," I muttered. "You think you'd learn." Percy gave me a deadpan expression and I shut up.

Despite Percy being just as nervous as I was, he reluctantly went first toward Mrs. Dodds. I followed close behind. I could barely see Mrs. Dodds over Percy's shoulder, but she looked ready to pulverize that Greek frieze.

"You've both been giving us problem, honeys," she said with her back toward us.

First of all, creepy. Second of all, us? Multiple personalities might have explained a thing or two about Mrs. Dodds, if it wasn't for the fact that her default setting as far as Percy and I were concerned seemed to be: kill. Although, as I was about to find out, I hadn't yet faced the true wrath of Mrs. Dodds.

Percy nudged me.

What? I mouthed.

Say something, he mouthed back.

I rolled my eyes. I hadn't a clue what Percy had just said to my creepy math teacher, but I said, "Yeah-whatever Percy said."

Mrs. Dodds then tugged at the cuffs of her leather jacket, while still looking at the frieze. "Did you two really think you'd get away with it?" She then looked over her shoulder at us. Her expression looked evil and worst of all, unhuman.

Something definitely wasn't right. I tugged at Percy's arm. "Lia, she's a teacher, she can't hurt us." His voice sounded shaky and nervous and I was pretty sure he didn't fully believe his own words.

Thunder boomed and caused the building to rattle.

I immediately ducked and covered my head with my hands. I know what you're thinking, thirteen years old and still afraid of a little thunder? At one time, I would have agreed with you. It wasn't until later that I found my fear to be perfectly normal for someone with my circumstances. But at the time, we didn't know that Percy nudged me with his foot and hissed, "Get up."

But I didn't.

Although, covering my head didn't keep me from hearing Mrs. Dodds. "We are not fools, Perseus and Ophelia Jackson…" Again with the plural pronouns. Although that could explain why she taught math. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. While we weren't expecting there to be twins it certainly makes sense of things. Confess, and you will both suffer less pain."

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa? Pain? Wasn't that a little extreme? It wasn't my fault that the bathroom had a vendetta against Nancy Bobofit. Unless she had found out about...I stopped to pause for a second. I couldn't recollect anything worth pain and suffering that the teachers didn't already know about. Now Percy on the other hand…

"Well?" Mrs. Dodds demanded.

Percy began to sputter something indiscernible and Mrs. Dodds made direct eye contact with me. "Too late. Time's up."

My eyes widened in horror because I was pretty sure I was having one of my nightmares again...only it had escaped from my dreams to real life. What I was seeing definitely wasn't normal and would probably require psychiatric help.

My math teacher's eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Freaky, right? But that wasn't all. She reached her hands out and her fingers turned into talons. I instinctively reached for my shoulder. It made sense, but I was still a state of disbelief. Her leather jacket melted against her body before popping out into wings. She hissed at me with her yellow fangs practically dripping.

HO-LY HELL.

At that point, I was certain death was imminent and I immediately went into self-preservation mode. I quickly got to my feet and slowly backed away from Mrs. Dodds...if that's even who she was anymore.

Then, if things weren't already strange enough, Mr. Brunner comes out of nowhere wheeling into the room like it's no big deal. He's totally calm and is holding onto a pen. Mr. Brunner quickly scanned between Percy and me. At the time, I didn't understand, but he was sizing up who was closest to Mrs. Dodds and had the best vantage point-but instead, all I saw was my teacher not doing a damn thing, except throw a stupid pen at my brother.

Evil Mrs. Dodds then lunged. It would have made sense for her to go after Percy because he was closer, right? But no. Instead, Mrs. Dodds decided to lunge at me. ME! Just my stupid luck.

I would like to say that I did something heroic or did some sort of cool acrobatic stunt to escape her evil clutches, but that would be lying. Instead, I began to scream as I backed myself into the wall.

"Die, honey!" Mrs. Dodds screamed as she flew closer toward me.

I wanted to close my eyes and pretend this wasn't happening, but instinctively I somehow knew that was the worst possible thing to do. Now, don't forget I was still terrified out of my mind, but right before Mrs. Dodds was going to make contact with me, I quickly ducked to the ground.

Mrs. Dodds flew into the wall, her talons digging into the material, causing her to get stuck for a second. Only, I wasn't completely unscathed. The talons where her toes should have been dug into my arm.

It felt like my arm was on fire. I fell to the floor, clinging tightly to my bloodied arm. It hurt so freaking bad. I was too occupied by the pain to even notice that Mrs. Dodds had managed to push off from the wall and there was nothing I could do and nowhere I could go as she came skulking toward me.

Oh, gods, this was it. I was going to die. My obituary would read something along the lines of Death by math teacher. Perhaps too much algebra really can kill you. I stayed still even though I was whimpering from the pain and prepared to meet my fate.

"Hey, Ugly!" Percy shouted.

Evil Mrs. Dodds froze and turned her head toward Percy.

"No one hurts my sister but me!"

Next thing I knew, I saw a bronze sword pierce through Mrs. Dodd's shoulder and it made a hissing sound. Her red eyes bulged in horror and she screeched just before she exploded into a yellow powder. I attempted to shield myself from the blast with my good arm, but the power quickly vaporized before it even touched the ground. The only thing that remained of the scene. was the smell of sulfur, Mrs. Dodd's dying screech, and the large gash on my arm.

Percy quickly rushed toward me. "Lia, are you okay?" he asked.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" I hissed. My arm burned and I wasn't sure how much more of the pain I could handle. I turned toward where Mr. Brunner had been, but he wasn't there. The only thing that was there was a liter-sized water bottle.

I looked at it curiously for a moment. I wondered if I was delirious. That maybe I was just seeing things. But then my thoughts turned toward what had happened in the bathroom the last time I had a mark from Mrs. Dodds. "Water," I mumbled to my brother.

"Yeah, we'll get you some. Let's get you cleaned up first. We should probably find help…" He was trying to help me to my feet, but I pushed him away.

"No," I groaned. "Water. Get the water." I motioned toward the water bottle with my head.

"Oh-kay," Percy muttered, standing up and looking somewhat offended by my lack of reaction to what happened, but in my defense, I was still in shock. He grabbed the water bottle and handed it to me.

"Go, get help," I ordered him.

"I'm not just gonna leave you here."

"Just go, Percy."

Rather reluctantly, he left me alone. That was how I wanted it. I didn't want my brother to see me trying out my crazy idea. After what had just happened, I didn't need another reason to be locked up in a psych ward. So, one-handed, I managed to uncap the water bottle. I then peeled my sweatshirt away from my wound before I poured water on it. I gasped. The pain immediately began to subside. Although, perhaps I was too much in shock that I imagined the pain going away...at least, that's what I thought at the time. Only later to find out that I hadn't made it all up.

With my arm feeling a little better, I then poured a bit of water on my cheek where there was a smaller gash. Again, the pain subsided. I then took a sip of the water and I felt a resurgence of energy through my body. I probably sounded crazy, hell, I even felt like I was crazy.

Percy eventually returned with an adult from the museum, but when they saw me, their face immediately turned into a frown. "This is why we don't allow children unsupervised in the museum," she muttered. "Had you been properly supervised, you wouldn't have scratched yourself on the exhibit. I hope you haven't ruined it. History is precious. Once it's gone, it's gone. Where are your parents?"

My head was spinning from all the directions her speech had managed to go in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, Percy answered, "We're with the school group."

"Of course you are," she said shaking her head. "Let's get your arm fixed up. And you'd better pray to Zeus that you didn't ruin those spears or your going to be paying for them."

Spear? It was only then that I noticed several spears had been knocked off the wall that Mrs. Dodds had flown into. I looked at Percy. He shrugged his shoulder at me. We just decided to go along with it-because it beat the alternative of trying to explain how our math teacher turned into a hideous beast and attacked us. Who would believe that?

After my arm had been bandaged and a band-aid put over the scratch on my face, the woman escorted Percy and me out of the museum. I had a feeling we were going to be banned for life after the stunt we pulled. I was just glad that my gashes weren't as large as I had first assumed. I mean, I was fairly certain I was going to lose my arm initially-clearly, I had exaggerated my injury. Right?

Percy and I walked down the stairs together while the woman from the museum took the opportunity to approach Mr. Brunner and chew him out. I held onto my brother with my good arm while we descended.

"What was that?" my brother asked me.

"I-I'm not sure," I responded, my voice faltering. To be honest, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I wanted to get out of there and take a nap.

We approached Grover, who sat at the edge of the fountain with a map museum tented over his head, trying to ignore Nancy Bobofit who still stood there drenched from head to toe. For a moment, it looked like Grover was relieved to see us, but my attention was soon drawn to Nancy Bobofit who shouted, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped both your butts. At least it looks like she got Lia."

Percy and I exchanged looks of confusion. Mrs. Kerr? Percy responded for the both of us, 'Who?"

Nancy looked at him like he was crazy before she scoffed, "Our teacher. Duh."

My brother and I looked at each other again, still wearing the same confused expressions we had donned only seconds earlier. "What are you talking about? Who is Mrs. Kerr?" I asked.

Nancy now looked at me like I was the crazy one. "I don't want to catch whatever those two have," she said and snapped her fingers for her friends to follow. Nancy walked away, gossiping with her friends about the crazy Jackson twins.

"Okay, dude, where's Mrs. Dodds?" Percy asked.

Grover glanced at me for looking down at the ground. He then answered, "Who?"

"Not funny, man. This is serious."

Thunder boomed overhead.

I clung tighter to my brother's arm, which caused him to groan. "Loosen the grip, Lia," Percy groaned. I did as I was told. He then asked Grover once more. "Where is Mrs. Dodds?"

But before Grover could answer, I said, "Let's just go ask, Mr. Brunner." I started dragging my brother off toward our teacher who sat on his motorized cart, perched beneath an umbrella, and reading his book. I only suggested it because I thought Grover would suddenly shout just kidding! Or something to that extent. But he didn't make a move to stop us from approaching Brunner. Although, he did keep a close eye on us. Not that I was paying him any attention.

When we reached Brunner, Percy cleared his throat. Mr. Brunner looked up a little distracted like we had just interrupted him during the best part of the book. He then raised his hand and pointed to the pen still in Percy's hand. "Ah, that would be my pen, Mr. Jackson. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future."

Percy handed him the pen and Mr. Brunner pocketed it before continuing, "And might I also add that there is no horsing around on field trips. We'll be lucky if the museum doesn't fine us for your rough-housing."

I blinked slowly in disbelief. I wasn't sure what to believe. Hadn't Mr. Brunner been there? But I didn't have long to think on it because Mr. Brunner said, "Miss Jackson, I let you borrow my water bottle. Might I ask where it is?"

"I-I left it inside," I stammered.

Mr. Brunner's brow furrowed. "Not sure we'll be able to march back in there and get it now. Hmph. And I liked that water bottle too."

I felt my face flame with embarrassment. "Sorry, sir."

Now, like I said, I hadn't actually planned on asking Mr. Brunner about Mrs. Dodds. It was all a ruse to get Grover to come clean. But Percy must not have caught onto that because he asked, "Sir, where is Mrs. Dodds?"

Mr. Brunner stared at Percy blankly. "Who?" he answered.

It felt like everyone was in on a joke that Percy and I were not privy to. My stomach sank. Something funny was going on here, but I didn't have a freaking clue what. Were Percy and I really the only ones who knew Mrs. Dodds? Were we both crazy? Perhaps we had somehow created her in our imaginations and shared her via some twin-telepathy type thing? Crazier things had happened-like our pre-algebra teacher turning into a monster.

I shook my head. "Are you feeling all right, Miss Jackson?" Mr. Brunner asked. His expression did look sympathetic.

"Just tired," I said. "But I can nap on the ride back to Yancy."

Mr. Brunner nodded and Percy and I walked back toward Grover. Deep down, I knew something was wrong, but I hoped I could somehow manage to hold onto my sanity. Otherwise, all bets were off.


	3. Where's Ashton Kutcher When You Need Him?

While things at Yancy seemed to return to normal following our return from our field trip. I knew they most certainly were not normal. It felt like I now lived in a giant hallucination and I could no longer tell fantasy from reality. But the thing that made it worse was the fact that my own brother seemed to agree with my version of events. It almost seemed like the entire school was punking the Jackson twins, except Ashton Kutcher, never popped out of the bushes to tell us that was what was happening. No, we just had to keep on living our lives hoping he would pop up at any minute while knowing that he never would.

The worst part of the hallucination was that aside from Percy, no one else seemed to remember Mrs. Dodds. I had tried to casually slip references about Mrs. Dodds to my roommate, but after the third or fourth reference, she requested a room change. That left me without a roommate for the rest of the year. Although, that was probably for the best. With my mental sanity slowing eroding away, I didn't want to accidentally do something to the girl in my sleep. I mean, as far as Yancy Academy girls went, my ex-roommate was probably one of the nicer ones.

I wasn't sure if that incident was what lead to the headmaster sending my mother a letter that I wouldn't be asked back to Yancy next year...or the fact that Percy had called our English teacher an old sot and since they were kicking him out, they might as well kick us both out. Either way, I knew my mom was going to be super disappointed and that Gabe would have another piece of leverage against Percy and I. Why couldn't things just go right for once? What was it about me that made all hell break loose? Was I cursed? Or was I just a troubled teenager? I frequently pondered these things alone in my dorm.

As I sunk further into my depression, my grades seemed to sink with it. While I wasn't the most gifted student, I wasn't nearly as terrible as Percy. I managed to get somewhat decent grades without much need to study. That was a good thing because looking at books gave me headaches. Thankfully, I could usually manage to retain most of what I was taught orally. English, however, was my worst subject. Especially essay portions where we were supposed to read articles and the come up with something pithy on the subject. If it was something we had talked about in class, I could usually manage to scrape by. But those stupid standardized tests always did me in. Always. I already knew I was never going to be a National Merit Scholar or anything like that.

Exam week eventually arrived. By that point, it felt like I had known forever that I wouldn't be coming back next year. It had felt like forever since my roommate up and left. It had felt like forever since the field trip that seemingly changed everything. But most of all, it felt like forever since I had seen my mom. There were times when a girl just wanted to be with her mom. Moms always seemed to understand...well, at least mine did. While I put a lot of pressure and guilt on myself, my mom never really did. She always seemed to have the right words to say when I messed up or knew that a quick walk for ice cream could do wonders. Of course, she usually only had money for one cone, so we would share it. But still, mother's were special and I knew mine was especially special. She was a saint and I hoped that if there was a heaven, there was a special place there for her someday.

But at least I had my brother. I mean, he didn't even come close to my mother's intuition at times, but it was better than nothing. Percy must have seen that I was feeling somewhat down because at lunch he asked me if I wanted to study that night for Latin with him. I agreed, not because I actually wanted to study, but because I was lonely for the company. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy my alone time...but sometimes, too much Lia time could be a bad thing. And as of late, I was definitely getting a lot of Lia time.

So, when Percy and I got to the library, we went to the farthest corner of the library where we wouldn't bother anyone. I think we both must have known that our study session wasn't going to be productive, so we didn't want people watching us fail at something that was supposed to be as simple as studying. Percy pulled his Cambridge Guide to Mythology out of his backpack and dropped it on the table.

I opened the book and the letters floated off the page and began to dance around me. I blinked several times and closed the book before I pushed it toward my brother, "Quiz me."

Percy looked at me rather pointedly. He had just as hard of a time reading as I did. I gave my brother my sad puppy dog look and he groaned before he sighed. I had him and I knew it. He then opened the book and concentrated trying to find any word that he could possibly recognize. "Polydictes?"

I bit my lip. There were so many names and places to remember. Too many. What was the point of knowing them? When in my life was I going to need to know this stuff? Well, the exam tomorrow. I suppose that was going to have to be enough for now.

I looked at my brother sheepishly and said, "Dead?"

Percy looked at me unamused and I just shrugged. Neither of us had any idea if I was right or not, so my brother moved to the next person. Although, it took him a few moments to make out the name from the page. "Uhhhhh...Chiron?" Percy asked.

I looked at my brother sheepishly and said, "Really dead?"

Percy shook his head. "Seriously?"

I shrugged. "I mean, I think enough time has passed for us to assume…"

"Okay, okay, okay…" This wasn't the first time he had studied with me. Studying with me rarely ever seemed to help him, but in some odd way, it did help me because I would remember whatever stupid association I made. Although, I was fairly certain my study methods annoyed my brother, yet he was the one who had asked me to study with him. Probably out of pity.

Ummmm…" Percy grumbled as he stared at the book. He closed his eyes for a second and rubbed them before he tried looking again. "Uhhhh...Charon?"

"Really really dead."

My brother looked at me and I smiled. Percy shook his head in disbelief. "I think that actually might be right. I think I see something about Hades."

"Boo-freaking-yah!" I did a little dance in my seat before it dawned on me. "Oh! That's right! He's the dude that brings them across the river!" I then did my best just around the Riverbend impression, singing the song as I pretended to paddle. "Just around the Riverbend! Just around the Riverbend."

All Percy could do was look at me and shake his head, pretending to be embarrassed to be related to me. But I knew that he found it rather amusing. I could just tell.

I giggled before I asked him, "Do you think Charon actually sings that? He so should. It could be like go-to karaoke song. I can see it."

Percy arched an eyebrow. "You do realize he's not real, right?"

"Just let me have my moment." I sighed and smiled before I pulled the book back toward me. "Although, if I randomly burst into song during the exam, you'll know why."

Percy just shook his head and waited for me to ask him a question. Although, I wasn't much better at asking him questions than he was nor was he any better at answering questions than I was. Percy groaned and rubbed his eyes wearily. "I can't fail this," he groaned. "I don't wanna let Mr. Brunner down again."

I slammed the book shut and smiled at my brother. "There's our solution."

My brother looked at me in confusion. "What? What's our solution? Failing?"

"No," I said shaking my head. "Mr. Brunner. He's always talking about how his office is always open and he's willing to help. Maybe we should go visit him."

"That's actually a really good idea."

"It's been known to happen occasionally." I turned to look at the clock and I grimaced noting how late it actually was. "Although, it might just show him how much we procrastinated on this. I mean, he's literally been telling us to study for this thing all semester."

"Great," Percy groaned, banging his head against the table.

"But…" I said in a long, drawn-out fashion. "It might also show him that you actually care enough to get some help."

"Let's go with that."

Percy swung his backpack onto his shoulder and gripped the mythology textbook tightly in his arm. I followed my brother out of the library and walked in step with him as we made our way to Mr. Brunner's office. We were almost to the faculty office building when Percy thought it would be funny to try and trip me. While still facing forward, he reached his leg out to try and kick me in the back of my knee. Having been the victim of this attack countless times before I reached for him as I started to fall. If I was going down, he was going down with me.

And I did just that, squealing as I brought him to the cement with me. "Lia," Percy groaned which made me giggle. His mythology landed in a puddle with a splash, covering Percy and me in the mud. I laughed even harder. But my triumph was short-lived as Nancy Bobofit chose that exact moment to walk our way with her friends. She made purposeful stomps toward Percy and me, which we thankfully managed to dodge, but it seemed like she had made it her mission in life to make Percy and I even more miserable since our field trip to the Met.

Once we were sure she was gone, Percy helped pull me to my feet before we continued our walk to Mr. Brunner's office. The hallway of the faculty offices was dimly lit. Most of the offices were dark and the doors were locked, but at the end of the hall, Mr. Brunner's door was ajar and lightly filtered out into the hallway.

"Do you think he lives here?" I asked my brother.

To which Percy seriously responded, "Probably."

Percy and I were like three steps away from the door when two familiar voices caught our attention. Mr. Brunner...and Grover...and they were talking about us! "...worried about Percy and Lia, sir."

I froze in place. I felt my jaw drop as I turned to look at my brother. He was having exactly the same reaction that I was having. Neither of us could quite believe that Percy's roommate and our Latin professor were having a conversation about us...and they were worried about us. Neither of us could turn away. Instead, we both inched closer to hear their conversation.

"...they'll be alone this summer," Grover continued. I rolled my eyes. We wouldn't be alone. Percy and I had each other...not to mention that Gabe was our constant companion at the apartment. I was about to scoff, but his next words caught my attention. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school!"

What's a Kindly One? Percy mouthed at me. I widened my eyes and shrugged my shoulders. I didn't have a freaking clue. I could tell this concerned, my brother, because I usually had a slightly better understanding of things than he did.

But Grover continued. "And now that we know for sure and they know…" Grover's words made me shiver. I wasn't sure why, but they did.

Mr. Brunner groaned in frustration. "We could only make matters worse. I think Lia suspects, but Percy...he's not even close. We need him to mature more."

I glanced at my brother. I could easily read the hurt on his face and I understood where it came from. Here was his favorite teacher basically saying that he had more faith in me than in him. Sure, it was a fairly normal occurrence for Percy-but it even confused me. I always felt that Mr. Brunner favored Percy. But I didn't have long to dwell on my thoughts because Grover continued the conversation.

"That maybe be, but we're running out of time. The summer solstice deadline…"

I narrowed my eyes. What summer solstice deadline? Running out of time for what? Percy must have had the same thoughts because he looked over his shoulder and me. Again, all I could do was shrug.

"It will just have to be resolved without them," Mr. Brunner responded. "Let's allow them to enjoy their ignorance while they still can."

"But, sir, they saw her…"

"Their imaginations-a shared perception rooted in the twin bond that they share, which they've surely realized by now. The Mist over the students and the staff should be enough to convince them of that."

"But you said, Lia…"

"Is closer to figuring out the truth, but still has yet to deduce it. We can't tell one twin and not tell the other. Their bond is nearly impenetrable, you of all people must know that. No, we must keep her in the dark for a time yet while we give Percy some time."

"Sir, I...I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice cracked and it was easy to hear the emotion in his voice. "You know what that would mean."

"But you haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner's voice responded. The kindness was evident in his tone like he was trying to comfort Grover. "I'm just as responsible. I should have seen her for what she was. But, for now, we must focus on keeping Lia and Percy alive until next fall."

The mythology textbook in Percy's hand dropped to the ground and landed with a resounding thud. Suddenly, everything went silent and I felt my heart stop beating. I could feel something rising up my throat. Percy bent down and grabbed the book before he started backing away. He grabbed the hood of my sweatshirt and began to pull me along with him. I allowed myself to be dragged along.

But as we backed away, my eyes widened in horror at the shadowed silhouette sliding across Mr. Brunner's office door. The shadow was much too tall to be either Grover or wheelchair-bound Mr. Brunner. Not to mention that it was much too long to be anything human. Whatever it was, it was holding what looked like an archer's bow. If Percy hadn't dropped that stupid book, I might have gone in for a better look. But instead, we managed to find out way into an unlocked teacher's office.

My heart was beating fast as I clung to my brother to keep my balance as seconds later the clop-clop sound like animal hooves hitting the tile floor echoed through the hall. A rather large, tall shape stopped right in front of the door we were hiding behind. I clasped my hands over my mouth to keep myself from screaming. It felt like once again I was losing my mental sanity. I felt my knees beginning to go weak, but Percy wrapped his arms around me to keep me from falling.

"Sh," he whispered in my ear, trying to keep me calm, but I knew he was just as nervous as I was. I felt a bead of sweat drip from his face down my neck. Normally, I would have thought that beyond disgusting, but I was too scared to react to my brother sweating on me.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down, but all I could think was Where's Ashton Kutcher when you need him? This had to be some elaborate Punk'd scenario, right? I was waiting for Mr. Brunner to open the door with Ashton trailing behind him, but it never happened. Instead, his voice echoed down the hallway. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover's voice responded. "But I could have sworn…"

"I think you could use some sleep, my friend," Mr. Brunner said. "Go back to the dorm. You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

Grover groaned. "Don't remind me."

The sound of hooves started up again, but the sound grew fainter until it was no more. Percy finally released me. We sat down on the floor and sat there silently, waiting. Eventually, Mr. Brunner's office light went out, but we continued to wait until we were absolutely sure that there was no one waiting outside for us.

Silently, Percy and I walked back to the dorms. We stopped on the landing of the staircase that separated the boys' dormitory from the girls' dormitory. For a minute, we just stood there not saying anything. I shifted my stance and nervously pulled my hair behind my ear.

"That was…" I began.

"Yeah…" Percy responded breathlessly.

"Do you think…"

"I don't know."

Without warning, I enveloped my brother in a tight hug. Normally, he hated when I did that...especially in public. But I knew Percy knew why I clung to him: an ominous death warning. Nothing made any sense. Granted, it rarely ever did. But it made even less sense than usual.

"I've gotta go, Lia," Percy whispered. "Before Grover gets suspicious."

I nodded my head and slowly released my brother. I slowly exhaled and tucked my hair behind my ears again. "I love you, Percy," I told him.

He rolled his eyes like he normally did when I told him that, but he quietly responded, "I love you too, Lia."

And then we parted ways. I walked up the stairs to the dormitory I lived in alone. I locked my door behind me. I then jogged across the tile and flung myself onto my bed. It creaked beneath my weight. I knew I likely wouldn't be getting any sleep. So, I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling thinking of a question I knew wouldn't be on the exam, but I knew the answer to.

Percy and Lia Jackson? Really really really dead.


	4. The Fa(e)tes

The morning of my exams I woke up thinking that maybe I was living up to my Shakespearean namesake, only I hadn't drowned myself...yet. There was still time for that...or so I had thought. Of course, I later found out that drowning probably wasn't going to be the way I'd eventually die. But at the time, I didn't know that.

Reluctantly, I dragged my butt out of bed and stood in the middle of my dorm room, examining it. Despite the fact that I lived alone my stuff now occupied both sides of the room. Not that I had a lot of stuff, to begin with, but my ex-roommates bed had become a place for me to store the clothes I hadn't yet put away. Oddly enough, I knew better where my clothes were in my mess than I did when I put them away. I pulled my light blue Yancy Academy polo shirt from my mountain of clothes and a pair of jeans. Then without brushing my hair, I threw it up in a ponytail and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Percy wasn't in the cafeteria yet. Nor was his roommate. They were usually the ones I sat with at breakfast if I ate with anyone. So, it looked like I was alone again. Life felt much lonelier since the field trip we had taken to the MET. It was like things had changed somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then when you factor in the conversation Percy and I overheard last night, my future looked pretty grim.

I was so distracted by my thoughts, that I didn't have the stomach to each much. I forced myself to eat a piece of toast, despite the fact that I hated toast. I much preferred my toast crunchy on the outside but still squishy in the middle. The cafeteria didn't make toast like that and Percy often teased me that what I liked didn't qualify as toast, it was warm bread. I quickly downed my glass of milk before I looked at the clock. I still had nearly an hour until my first final started. That meant one thing: I had to distract myself.

So, I headed back to my dorm room and started packing up my things. I was going to have to do it eventually. Although, I would use the term packing very, very loosely. I basically just shoved stuff into my bags and suitcase, until I couldn't fit anymore. Mom would probably say something to me when I got home. Not in the nagging, complaining sense but more likely the, disappointed sense. I always felt like I was disappointing her. I'll confess that there were times when I had thought of running away. But I could never make myself actually go through with it.

Eventually, I made it to Mr. Brunner's three-hour Latin exam. Honestly, I thought it quite ridiculous that someone would want to torture middle schoolers with such a terribly long examination period. One would think that either said teacher either really enjoyed his students or enjoyed torturing them. Had it been any other teacher, I probably would have said the latter, but I always got the feeling that Mr. Brunner liked us...or at least me and Percy. Well, mostly Percy, but I was pretty positive that I ranked at least second on his list of favorites. I would probably be heartbroken if I found out he liked Nancy Bobofit better than me.

The exam was overwhelming. Greeks, Romans...a little Latin. While the words of the test floated off the page and seemed to somersault in the air, I didn't feel all that underprepared for the exam. When I got to the question about Charon, I smiled and looked over my shoulder at my brother before quickly turning back around. I answered the question and then I made a stick-figure doodle of Charon on a boat with a paddle in his hand and a speech bubble coming from his head. Of course, he was singing Just Around the Riverbend. I smiled proudly at my drawing and hoped Mr. Brunner would consider giving me some extra credit for my creativity. Especially since on another question about the Fates, I drew them as faes with beautiful wings, tutus, and holding pairs of scissors for magic wands. I labeled them "The Fa(e)tes"

I finished the exam before my brother. Although, I probably sat there pretending to look over my test for ten minutes, while I was really just waiting for a couple of people to turn their exam in before me. Then I eventually walked my exam up to Mr. Brunner and handed it to him. I chewed my lip waiting for him to say something in response like thanks for a great year or good luck next year.

Instead, he whispered to me, "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy...it's for the best."

I thought that was a weird thing for a teacher to stay. It almost felt like a sorry, not sorry kind of thing. But he wasn't finished. "What I mean to say...is that this isn't the right place for you, Lia. And it was only a matter of time…you're not normal..." Mr. Brunner paused and glanced at Percy.

I felt jealousy surging through me as I felt my balled fists shaking. I wanted to explode and tell him off. But I didn't. Instead, I just continued to chew my lip until I tasted blood. "Ouch," I gasped. I pressed my fingers to my lips. When I pulled them away, streaks of blood were on my fingertips. I licked my lips with my tongue, trying to wipe the blood away.

"You should get some ice for that," Mr. Brunner said.

I stubbornly responded, "I'm fine." Although, had I known what he already suspected, I should have just went to the nurse and got some ice. But jealousy was surging through my veins like a wildfire through a dry forest. So, I turned and walked away from my teacher without another word, wanting to leave a lasting impression on him. Although in hindsight, it wasn't much of one. Pretty pathetic actually.

I then went back to my room, threw myself on my bed, and I cried. I cried because I had gotten expelled from another school. I cried because I had no friends. I cried because I had to go back to Smelly Gabe's for the summer. I cried because of what Mr. Brunner had said. I cried because I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. I cried because I needed a good cry. And in all my crying, I cried myself to sleep.

I slept so long that when I woke up, I saw that I had missed dinner. My stomach grumbled. I was hungry. Having packed my bags earlier, I knew that my candy stash had been depleted, but I held out a small hope that a miracle would occur and I'd find some candy. So, despite all the work I had done packing, I dumped my bags out back onto the empty bed. I sifted through the clothes and checked the pockets of my bags. No, luck. I had no miracle candy. My stomach growled again and then a knock came at my door.

For a second, I thought I was hearing things. It wouldn't be the first time. Besides, who would want to see me? There came another knock. I groaned before I walked over to my door. I wasn't prepared for what I found on the other side of my door. In fact, I was quite speechless at first glance. On the other side of my door stood Percy in a long, curly blonde hair wig and Grover in long, straight brown one with bangs. I blinked several times trying to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I even closed my door and opened it again to be sure what I saw was real.

When I recovered from my shock, I raised an eyebrow and asked, "That seriously worked?"

"Just let us in," Percy hissed as he pushed past me and walked into my room. Grover followed after Percy, without saying a word.

I shook my head and closed the door behind them as they made themselves comfortable on the beds. Percy took mine and Grover sat on the small portion of the other bed that wasn't covered with my clothes.

"Where did you even get those?" I asked, pointing at their wigs.

"Drama department," Grover said pulling his wig off. For a moment, I could have sworn that I saw horns poke out from beneath his actual hair, but I quickly dismissed the thought because I was exhausted.

I rubbed my eyes and sat down criss-cross applesauce on my desk chair. "So, what are you two doing here?" I asked.

"We just wanted to make sure you're okay," Percy said removing his blonde wig. "I got the feeling you were upset after turning your exam into Mr. Brunner."

"And then you skipped dinner," Grover added. "There's gotta be something going on if you're skipping dinner. It was enchilada night and if there's one person who likes those enchiladas almost as much as me...it's you."

I chuckled. Sometimes Grover wasn't so bad. I was pretty sure most of my issues with him were probably founded in jealousy over the fact that he was more Percy's friend than mine. It just sucked because I didn't have anyone else but those two goofs. Speaking of them, they were staring at me waiting for me to respond.

I sighed. "Brunner...Brunner told me that I wasn't normal." My bottom lip jutted out slightly and I folded my arms across my chest.

Grover appeared to be holding something back, but I quickly brushed it off as gas. He had said that it was enchilada night. Percy scooted to the edge of my bed and said, "He basically told me the same thing. But he wasn't as quiet telling me as he was you. Nancy Bobofit heard the whole thing and was making kissing faces at me."

"I thought he liked us."

"Me too."

Grover remained abnormally silent on the matter. He chewed on the collar of his shirt to keep from adding to the conversation. At the time, I didn't think anything of it. I just thought he was a weird dude.

Another knock came at my door. Percy and Grover looked at each other in horror. "Get under the beds," I hissed at them. They did as I said as another hard knock came at the door. Now I really hadn't a clue who could possibly be visiting me. Whoever was on the other side of that door, certainly wasn't a friend of mine...because my only friends were already in my room.

"Who is it?" I asked from the other side of the door.

"Open up!" Nancy Bobofit shouted from the other side, banging on my door.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think so!" I shouted back at her.

"Awww, c'mon Jackson. We've seen the error of our ways and want to apologize."

"Yeah, right," I whispered to myself before I told those standing outside, "Whatever you need to do, you can do it through the door."

"But we have a present for you."

I knew they were lying. But I also knew that they wouldn't leave me alone unless I opened that door. I sighed. "Whatever happens, don't come out from under the bed," I whispered toward the boys. "That will only make things worse: me harboring boys in my room. I can take whatever Nancy Bobofit throws my way."

"Lia…" Percy tried to argue.

But I shushed him and then opened the door. Just as I had expected, they hadn't come to make peace with me. Just the opposite actually. They had super soakers and began blasting me with water the second I opened my door. I tried to shield my face from the forceful blast of water, but I spluttered nonetheless. It felt like Nancy and her two cronies were there forever, but once their water guns were empty they ran away laughing.

I groaned and balled my fists. I was practically shaking with anger. Part of me wanted to run right back at them, but I somehow managed to control that urge. I turned to face my brother and Grover who had crawled out from their hiding spots. Percy's jaw was practically to the ground as he looked at me like I was some sort of freak.

"What?" I groaned, folding my arms across my chest.

"You're-you're dry!" Percy responded in shock.

"Yeah-so…" My eyes then widened when I realized the point he was trying to make. After being blasted by three super soakers, I should be dripping wet. I looked down at the ground to see a massive puddle of water on the floor. I then began to feel my shirt. Completely dry. I looked back at Percy, horror clearly written over my face. I cupped my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Grover looked nervous. He quickly grabbed Percy's arm and ran out of my room with him. "See you in the morning, Lia!" Grover called. They ran out so quickly that they forgot their wigs and I was pretty sure they ran into a girl or two judging from the screams in the hallway.

But I was still completely baffled over how I managed to be completely dry. It didn't make sense. Just like about everything else in my life.

It was finally time to leave Yancy Academy. I wasn't all that broken up to be leaving. I had already cried most of my emotions out the other night anyway. I just wasn't looking forward to being forced to spend a summer with Smelly Gabe. The nickname, coined by Percy, was well deserved.

I stood with Percy at the bus stop. My suitcase was at my feet, my backpack was strapped to my back and my other bag hung from my shoulder. I probably looked like I was running from home rather than going home. Then, to our surprise, Grover joined us.

"What are you doing here, man?" Percy asked

Grover grinned. "Manhattan or bust, baby," he said flashing us his ticket.

We boarded the bus. Grover was the one who found our seats. We took four seats, two on each side of the aisle. Grover sat on the aisle beside Percy and he had us put our bags on the seat beside me. This way no one would take that seat. He seemed a little anxious. I almost wondered if he had never ridden the bus before, but we had taken a bus on our trip to the MET.

I shrugged it off and pulled my Walkman CD player out of my bag. Well, technically it wasn't mine. It was my ex-roommates, which I borrowed and conveniently forgot to give back. The only downside was that I only had one CD: Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway. I put my headphones on, pressed play, and listened as the song Breakaway filled my ears. I completely ignored Grover and Percy for most of the trip.

I was listening to Hear Me when Grover tapped me on the shoulder. I looked at him in confusion, with my headphones still on as he handed me a grubby-looking business card. I shrugged and looked down at it:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

I arched an eyebrow and pulled down my headphones. "What's Half…"

"Don't say it aloud!" Grover yelped.

"Yeah, Lia," Percy added with a chuckle. Grover rolled his eyes. Percy shrugged his shoulders. "I already tried asking."

I nodded my head and was about to put my headphones back on when Grover reached out across the aisle.

"I need you two to promise me that you'll let me know if you need me...for anything. Because the truth is guys, I-I'm supposed to be protecting you."

Percy and I both looked each other with matching expressions. It was like we could read each other's thoughts. Grover? Protect us? Hadn't we been the ones protecting him from bullies all year? But it was Percy who asked for clarification first.

"Grover, what exactly are you protecting us from?" he asked.

Looking back on it, that was probably a stupid thing for Percy to ask. It always seemed that once you ask, all hell breaks loose. That day was no different.

There was a huge grinding noise from beneath our feet. Instinctively, I pulled my feet onto the seat. Grover looked around anxiously as black smoke poured into the bus from the dashboard and the smell of rotten eggs permeated the air. The smell made me want to gag.

But the driver managed to get us safely to the side of the highway. After a few minutes of the driver trying to fix it, he told us to exit the bus. So, I waited for Grover to get off before I grabbed hold of Percy's arm and walked closely behind him, holding tightly onto him.

I clung tightly to Percy's arm as we waited outside. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was like one of those perfect scenarios where people break down in a god-forsaken place, they pull over to the side of the road, and are brutally murdered. Granted, we had the daylight and like 20 passengers on our side, but still. Things just didn't quite sit right. Once again, I was too much in my head...thinking I was going crazy. But I would come to find out that my fears were perfectly rational.

Percy elbowed me in the stomach and I groaned. We made eye contact before he motioned across the road with his head. My gaze followed where he suggested. Although, I once again thought I was seeing things. I saw three old ladies sitting in the shade of a maple tree knitting a giant pair of socks. They were also selling the most delicious fruit I had ever seen in my life. I closed my eyes and shook my head. Nope. They were still there.

There's something you should probably know about me. Sometimes, instead of acknowledging my fears or simply letting them consume me, I like to make light of the situation to make it seem like it isn't actually happening. Now was one of those times. I mean, aside from the creep factor, those old ladies in brightly colored cotton sundresses looked fairly harmless.

"I can't imagine they get a lot of business," I said.

"Kinda feel bad for them," Percy acknowledged. I nodded my head.

"Who do you think those socks are for, Bigfoot?" I whispered to my brother.

"A yeti would probably have more use for them," Percy commented jokingly.

I chuckled in response, but truth was I was really creeped out. I mean, the old ladies were staring at us. Like, right at us.

"Which one of us do you think they're looking at?" Percy asked me.

"You seem more their type," I retorted which made Percy roll his eyes.

"Let's find out then."

Percy pulled his arm loose from my near death grip. He then walked several yards further down the road, away from me. The odd thing was, the ladies still continued to watch both of us. They each kept one eye on each of us-making their eyes look like they were floating apart or perhaps ready to burst from their heads. Percy looked back at me and raised his eyebrows in concern. I gulped.

But we weren't the only ones who appeared nervous. Grover the color drained from his face and his nose started twitching. He then started chewing on the collar of his shirt. Again, at the time, I just thought Grover was a really weird dude, but he was the closest thing I had to a friend so I asked, "Grover, everything all right over there?"

"They're looking at you two, aren't they?" Grover croaked.

"Yeah. Weird, huh?" Percy said, approaching us again, slapping his arm down on Grover's shoulder. "You think those socks would fit me?"

"They probably wouldn't fit your big head," I teased my brother.

But Grover gulped and shook his head. "Not funny, guys. Not funny at all."

"Aw, C'mon, Grover, loosen up, man," Percy said, giving him a little shake.

I had to admit, while I thought the old ladies were quite creepy, they were on the other side of a four-laned highway and hardly looked in any condition to get anywhere near us. So, I took my brother's side on the matter. "What's the worse they can do? Throw fruit at us?"

Just then the old lady in the middle pulled from out of nowhere a large pair long-bladed gold and silver scissors...or shears...they might possibly even be considered hedge clippers. "Or I suppose they could always stab us with those," I whimpered

After Grover caught his breath, he wrapped a hand around Percy's arm and another hand on my arm. "We're getting back on the bus," he announced. Percy and I tried to argue with him. It was too hot on the bus. Too smelly. We tried like fifty things, but Grover wouldn't budge. No, in fact, he pushed us inside.

We just climbed the stairs when the three old ladies caught my eye again. Percy was hovering over me watching them too. They were still watching us as well. I wasn't sure how-there had to be a killer glare coming off the bus, but it felt like they were looking right at us. We watched as the middle lady cut the yarn and I swear I heard the snip. The other two ladies balled-up the electric blue socks.

"Dammit," Grover muttered.

The bus started back up again and the other passengers began cheering. Grover just pushed us back to our seats. This time, he pushed us to the seats at the back of the bus. He grabbed our things and tossed them into the back. He kept muttering that it was safer this way. I didn't argue with him, I just sat down in the seat beside Percy as he directed me.

The further away we got from that fruit stand, the more feverish I began to feel. I was as if I'd suddenly come down with the flu. Percy seemed to have it too. I rested by head on his shoulder and he rested his head on my head. And even though I couldn't see him, I knew Grover wasn't feeling much better because I could hear his teeth chattering.

"Grover, what aren't you telling us?" Percy asked. His tone was stern and I could tell that he meant business, a side that Percy rarely ever showed.

"What did you two see at the fruit stand?"

"Three creepy old ladies," I said with my eyes closed.

I could feel Percy nodding his head from where my head rested on his shoulder. "What about 'em, man? They're not like Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

At the mention of Mrs. Dodds, I opened my eyes and turned to look at Grover. For months I had thought I was crazy and must have made her up that she was a figment of my imagination, but Grover made no motion to dissuade us of her. Instead, his expression told us that Mrs. Dodds was nothing compared to what we just saw.

"Dude," Percy said, snapping Grover out of his reverie. "What is it?"

Grover took a deep breath. "Just tell me what you saw."

"They were knitting socks for Bigfoot," I offered.

"And the middle one cut the yarn with the biggest pair of scissor I've ever seen. That's it," Percy added.

Grover closed his eyes, almost as if he were in pain. He made a strange gesture with his fingers. I wasn't sure what it meant. "You saw her snip the cord," he said, still not looking at us.

"Yeah. So?"

But Grover's reaction told me that whatever the snipping of the cord meant...it couldn't possibly be good. And yet, for some reason, that sounded strangely familiar. But I couldn't place where I had heard of that before. I couldn't think on it much because Grover kinda started to panic.

"This is not happening," he groaned as he started to chew on his thumb. "This can't be happening. Not again. This can't be like the last time."

Percy and I looked at each other, concern clearly evident on our faces.

"The last time?" Percy asked.

"Always around this time. They never make it much older."

"Grover…" I said.

"You're starting to freak us out," Percy added.

Grover looked at us. "Just promise me that you'll let me walk you guys home from the bus station. Promise me."

Percy and I both nodded our heads. I got a chill up my spine and I rested my head on my brother's shoulder once again. I closed my eyes and tried to let sleep overtake me. I could feel Percy's breathing shallow beneath me. He was asleep. But my brain wouldn't shut off. Instead, my thoughts turned toward Mr. Brunner's exam of all things. I thought of my silly doodles. And then it hit me. I gasped and sat up. I glanced across the aisle at Grover, who was looking at me with concern.

"The Fates," I whispered.

I could have sworn that I saw Grover nod. Not good.


	5. Home Sweet Hell

Confession time: Sometimes I can be such a pushover. You'd think that at some point in my short life I'd have learned that my brother's ideas are usually the absolute worst. But no. For some reason, I decided to go along with his idea to ditch Grover at the bus terminal. If only I had told him no or plucked up the courage to tell Grover we were ditching him or even stayed behind and let Percy venture into New York City on his own, then maybe all literal hell wouldn't have broken loose. But I don't have any psychic abilities, so I couldn't have possibly known what was about to happen.

Percy and I caught the first taxi uptown when Grover was in the bathroom. I felt kinda bad about doing that to Grover, especially after he had been the nicest person to me at Yancy. But in all honesty, I wanted to see my mother. You would too if your mother was the only one who seemed to understand you. Now, I know some of you might say but the twin thing. And yes, Percy and I have the twin thing. But boys can be idiots most of the time. Moms just get it. And I missed my mom and I hadn't seen her since Christmas.

There are probably some things I should tell you about my mom before I go any further. First, she's the best mom in the whole wide world. Now, I know what you're thinking. Most people would say that about their mom, but mine is just different. I mean, she puts up with me and Percy-that has to count for a lot. One of us would probably be a lot for anyone to handle, but she got saddled with the two of us and never once have I ever heard her complain about us. Not after getting expelled. Not after weird things happening. Not if we talk back to her. Never. She also an absolute saint for putting up with our poor excuse for a stepfather, Gabe Ugliano.

Gah. In order to understand my mother, you gotta understand Gabe. So bear with me a moment. Gabe is the worst person you could ever meet. Percy and I never understood why Mom married him. Gabe is selfish, a scoundrel, he smells...the list could go on, but I hope you get the point. Worst. Dude. Ever. Put it this way, when we were younger, Percy nicknamed him Smelly Gabe and it just kinda stuck. Percy claimed he smelled like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts left in the boys' locker room for a year. I had to take his word on the boys' locker room part. But yeah, foulest smelling creature known to man.

So, back to my mom. Best. Human. Being. Ever. (Slight bias included) Basically what I know of her was that the only good thing that happened to her was meeting my dad. That was the one time in her life she was probably truly happy. I mean, she would always try the old cover-up with but you two are the best thing to ever happen to me schtick, but it wasn't hard to see that she was miserable with Gabe. Why she hadn't divorced him yet was beyond me.

Another random tangent-this time, about my dad. I've never met him before. Never. Kinda sucks. I think I could have easily lived up to being a daddy's girl had I been given the chance, but I never got one. Anyway, apparently, my parents had this forbidden romance thing going on and then one day he had a trip or something across the Atlantic and he never came back after that. Mom would say he was lost at sea, but every time she said it, something didn't feel quite right. I don't wanna call my mom a liar or anything, but it felt like she was holding something back. Something she wasn't ready to tell us yet. Maybe he was alive and ruling Genovia or something-I could deal with a Princess Diaries kind of thing. Every little girl dreamed of being a princess and I was no exception.

Annnd, back to Mom again. So to recap: great person with the crummiest cards dealt to her in the game of life. My mom is the hardest worker I know. When she was in high school, she worked hard to save money to go to college because she wanted to be a writer. She's also the best writer I know. I think I get my knack for storytelling from her, but anywho. So, what was supposed to be her senior year of high school she had to drop out to take of her uncle. But he died and then she had no money, no diploma, no house, and no family because her parents had died when she was little.

Eventually, she worked her way doing odd jobs here and there while taking classes at night to get her diploma, while trying to take care of the twins from hell. (That's Percy and me in case you were wondering. We definitely weren't the easiest to manage. Still aren't, actually.) See-told you, she was the best mom ever.

So anyway, Percy and I get to the apartment hoping that Mom would be there to greet us, but no such luck. Instead, we were greeted by Smelly Gabe, but I'm not quite sure that I would call it greeting. He wasn't pleased at all to see us walk into his apartment. From the look on his face, you would think that the devil himself just walked in, except that Gabe would have welcomed the devil over Percy and me.

I fanned the air in front of my face. Gabe and his friends were smoking while they played poker. The only good thing about Gabe being a smoker is that it taught me that I never wanted to be one someday. Ugh. Disgusting. Another thing about Gabe, he is a terrible housekeeper. Chips, both poker, and potato were strewn across the room. Beer cans covered the floor. No matter how long one was in the apartment five minutes to five hours, whenever one left, they left smelling like Gabe and his trash. Again. Disgusting.

"So, you two are back?" Gabe grumbled with a cigar in his mouth and his eyes back on the cards in his hands.

Percy jabbed his elbow in my side. That was code for me to respond because anything he said right then would probably just piss him off. I jabbed Percy back before I responded, "Yes, sir."

"Sir? You hear that, Eddie? Got that one trained. Yes, I do."

Eddie looked up from his cards and looked at me sympathetically. "Yeah, you sure do," Eddie said half-heartedly. His gaze quickly went back to his cards before Gabe got suspicious. Eddie was the apartment building's super and sometimes when he knew Gabe to be on a real rampage, he let me watch TV in his apartment when he wasn't there. I was pretty sure Eddie wasn't a big fan of Gabe, but he did like taking his money in poker. Living in New York City, every penny counted.

Percy rolled his eyes. He knew I only sucked-up to Gabe from time to time just to keep the peace. He knew that I was just as stubborn and disobedient as he was...I was just better at hiding it.

"Where's my mom?" Percy asked.

I groaned. One needed to butter Gabe up before hitting him with a question like that. Percy never could seem to figure that out. I took hold of Percy's wrist, bracing for impact. As I expected, Percy and Gabe got into a little tiff about money. Percy told him that we didn't have any, which again was a stupid answer because Gabe knew better than that. If I had answered first, I would have given him the change that I was holding onto in my right pocket. The change from the bus fare, while the money in my left pocket would most likely have been safe from harm. I told Percy to do the same, but he must not have because he handed over his entire wad of cash, shouted that he hoped Gabe lost and stomped away to our bedroom. Remember when I said boys are idiots? That's just one of many examples, but I digress.

Gabe then moved onto me and I did as I planned. Gabe was none the wiser. I then ran after Percy. He must not have known I was going to be right behind him because he slammed the door on my face. I rolled my eyes and pushed the door open. "Thank you," I muttered sarcastically at my brother.

Percy muttered an apology as he climbed onto the top bunk of our bunk beds. I gently closed the door behind me and sighed. "You gotta stop riling him up like that," I told Percy. "You know it only makes things worse"

"Don't act like you don't want to do the same to him," Percy snapped as he pushed Gabe's collection of garbage off the desk with his foot. Gabe purposely went out of his way to mess up our bedroom, which mostly functioned as Gabe's study. Not sure what he studied, but he always made a mess of the place.

I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. "That's not fair and you know it. You know I hate him. You know that Percy."

"Exactly my point!"

"And you know that if we wanna survive the summer you can't go pissing him off every time we run into him."

"And what's your brown-nosing gonna do?"

"Keep us from living on the streets."

"Mom wouldn't let that happen."

"Mom doesn't know everything Gabe does and neither do you!" I snapped. My fists were balled in anger. It wasn't Percy I was really mad at. It was Gabe. I was sure to never be alone with him in the apartment. The things he said made me very uncomfortable and I never told anyone about the times he struck me. There was a reason I went out of my way to butter him up. Because I didn't want things to get worse for me. Sure, I tried to brush it off with sarcasm, but the truth was I hated Gabe with every fiber of my being and it probably wasn't healthy to hate someone as much as I hated Gabe.

Percy's brow furrowed in confusion. He knew I wasn't telling him something. Thankfully, I was saved from having to say anything to him because a voice that sounded like music echoed down the hall. "Percy? Lia?"

With tears stinging at my eyes, I flung open the bedroom door and ran to meet my mom. I threw my arms around her neck and clung to her like I did when I was little. Although she was surprised by my reaction to seeing her, Mom hugged me back just as tight. Mom's hugs were the best thing in the world. I always felt a little better after a hug from her. They made the world seem a little better. "Oh, Lia,' Mom chuckled before she kissed my forehead. "I missed you too."

Percy slunk down from the bunk bed and stood leaning against the doorframe watching us. Mom chuckled. She removed one arm from me and held it out. "Get over here, Percy," she said with a genuine smile. Percy shuffled over and Mom wrapped her arm around him. She stood there holding the two of us. She went back and forth kissing us both on the foreheads until Percy groaned. "You've grown young man," Mom told him.

"Can't say the same for, Lia," Percy teased.

"She grew...a little." Mom brushed my hair behind my ear and smiled at me. "Let's sit and chat for a bit," she said nodding toward the bunk beds. She still held onto us as we walked toward the bed.

I looked at her. She looked a little tired dressed in red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform. Her hair had a few more gray streaks since Christmas. We made eye contact and she smiled at me, a smile that lit up her face and showed how beautiful she actually was. She kissed my forehead once more before we all sat down on my bed. With a grin on her face, she pulled a package of blue sour strings and a package of blue taffy out of her apron. She handed the sour strings to Percy and the taffy to me.

"Consider that your bribe," Mom said with a soft smile on her face. "Because I know you two left some things out of your letters and I want to hear all about whatever it is you didn't tell me."

Most parents would probably yell, wanting to know why we had gotten expelled from Yancy. But not Mom. She just wanted to know everything that happened. She ran her fingers through my long hair and then ran it through Percy's with her other hand. "Now, if I recall correctly, Lia went first at Christmas…" I nodded my head in agreement. "So, that means it's Percy's turn to go first."

Percy groaned. "Why can't Lia just go first?" he asked. "She'll tell you everything anyway."

"Percy, I want to hear how my little boy is doing."

"Mom, you're smothering me," Percy groaned.

I rolled my eyes. I knew this was an act he was putting up. I knew he really was glad to see her, but I just wondered why it was he could put up an act for Mom and couldn't manage one for Gabe. Speaking of Gabe, he yelled at my mom for some bean dip from the other room. I was surprised when she didn't dash right off and go to the kitchen. Instead, she sat there staring holes into Percy.

He eventually caved and began to talk about all the positive things about Yancy. I knew he was stretching the truth for her sake, but I would have done the same thing had I had to go first. Although, if Mom asked me a question, I did my best to answer it truthfully. And Percy was doing pretty well until he brought up the trip to the museum and suddenly stopped.

Mom's brow furrowed. "What happened at the museum? Did something scare you?" She was about to turn to me, knowing that I would probably spill my guts on the incident.

But before Mom could even look at me, Percy gently grabbed her arm and she turned back toward him. "No, Mom," Percy said, his tone quite even for a lie.

Mom pursed her lips. It was clear she didn't quite believe Percy. So she turned and looked at me. Behind Mom, Percy was shaking his head and mouthing for me not to tell Mom the truth. "Lia, is that true?" Mom asked me.

I had two options: I could make Percy out to be a liar or I could go along with the lie. Again, being the pushover I am, I went along with the lie, yet another stupid decision. I should have told her what happened. If I had, maybe we could have avoided some of the incidents that were to come. But no. I had to go along with Percy. I mean, I understood why he wanted to lie-he wanted to spare her the details after everything she had done for us. But still, I knew better and I didn't do anything about it.

Mom sighed. I think she knew that I was lying too, but she didn't press the issue. Instead, she announced that she had a surprise for us. "We're going to the beach!" she practically squealed in excitement.

"Montauk?" Percy and I both asked simultaneously in wide-eyed amazement.

Mom nodded her head. "Three night-same cabin."

"When?" we both asked again at the same time which made her chuckle.

"As soon as I can get changed," she said as she tussled both of our hair.

Percy and I grinned at each other. We loved going to Montauk. Although, in retrospective, going to Montauk was a terrible idea. But we didn't know that at the time. Sorry, I'm skipping ahead too far. Anyway, we were super excited. We went there almost every summer when we were younger, but we couldn't go the last two summer because of money issues...or at least that's what Gabe had said. If he hadn't bought that stupid new TV he didn't need, we probably could have gone. But there was nothing I could do to change the past. I could only look forward to the future.

Or at least I was looking forward to the future until Gabe stepped into our room. I didn't even have to look to know he was there. He brought an even more pungent odor into the room that gave him away. He growled about the bean dip. Instinctively, I tightened my hand on my mom's arm.

She kissed my forehead, trying to tell me it would be okay as she placed her other hand on Percy's chest, trying to warn him that this wasn't a fight we needed. She was trying to butter him up with bean dip to keep the peace for a few minutes until we were on our way to Montauk.

"I was just on my way, honey," Mom said sweetly to Gabe. "I was just telling the kids about the trip."

I glanced at Gabe. He looked gobsmacked. "You mean, you were serious about that?"

"I knew it," Percy groaned. "He's not going to let us go."

I buried my head in the crook of my mom's neck, embracing for the worst possible outcome. But Mom softly spoke, "Of course he will. Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides, Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip to last him all weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."

Still resting my head on my mom's shoulder, I slightly turned my head to see Gabe's reaction. He nodded his head and seemed to soften a bit. "The money for this trip is coming from the clothes budget for the three of yous, right?"

"Yes, honey," Mom said gently rubbing my knee with the hand of the arm I still clung to.

"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back? There and back?" he repeated the words with extra emphasis, which I knew my mother didn't need. She wasn't an idiot.

But she simply responded, "We'll be very careful."

Gabe scratched his double chin. He looked won-over, almost. Leave it to Gabe to always strike a bargain. "Maybe if you hurry up with that seven-layer dip. And maybe if your kids apologize for interrupting my poker game."

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, moving closer to my mom.

Gabe nodded his head and then narrowed his eyes at Percy.

Mom's gaze quickly turned toward Percy. She knew that he was the more likely one to mouth-off and all three of us needed a break from Gabe, even though Percy and I had just gotten home we needed a break too. A break to mentally prepare for a summer with him. I knew Percy didn't like it, but he apologized...in his own way. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "For interrupting your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."

Gabe eyed Percy, trying to detect any trace of sarcasm, but he eventually gave up. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, whatever," he said before he returned to his poker game.

All three of us let out a collective sigh. Mom kissed the top of Percy's head and then mine. "Thank you," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around our shoulders. She rubbed them gently. "And when we get to Montauk, you're both spilling on whatever it is you've forgotten to tell me." Mom looked at us with the same look Grover had given us when we saw the ladies with the scissors. Weird.

That should have given it away to me. But now. I was too deep in my blissful ignorance to know anything was off. Well, except for a sudden chill in the air. That was weird. But I was with my mom again, so I brushed it off. People will do almost anything for the ones they love, even if it means pretending something didn't happen.

Mom ruffled Percy's hair and then mine before she left the room to go make Gabe's dip. Percy and I just sat there for a minute, excited that we were actually getting out of hell, as we so lovingly referred to Gabe's apartment. The was probably one of the last minutes of "normal" Percy and I ever got. Because once we left the city that's when things really got crazy.

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been awhile. Since I last updated, I accepted a teaching job 2,000 miles away from where I had been living. I moved and am now teaching at a different school. So much happier though. Last year was really rough. So, here's to things continuing to go better!**

**Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited. It honestly brought a bright spot to some horrible days. I'd like to give a special shoutout to those who reviewed the last chapter: DarkElements10, 1seddiefan, Hoqwaarts, Slow Dancing In The Snow, GreenLilly, nixdragon, CarlyLynn, AGBreads, DayStorm, knowall7, starangel5593, CrystalVixen93, and DE10 for your "guest" reviews too! :)**

**Also, if you're on Tumblr and you like reading stories with OCs, you should check out ocappreciation. I'm an admin there and we have a lot of stories you might not know about. Or if you write your own OC stories, we can help promote them there too! :)**

**Much love,**

**Cassandra (a.k.a. January Lily)**


	6. Tell the Gods Your Plans (They Laugh)

I finally felt like I was able to breathe again when we reached our rental cabin. The smell of the sea seemed to refresh me and made me feel like all my troubles were behind me. Some people hated the sea, but for me, it was always rejuvenating. (Yes, I know what that word means. I have seen beauty commercials on TV before.) While most people would have hated the little box, Percy, Mom, and I loved it. We loved our little pastel box with faded curtain, with spiders and sands in the sheets, and seawater too cold to swim in. I wished we could stay there forever, just the three of us. But you know what they say when you tell the gods your plans? They laugh.

Anyway, the sun was just beginning to set when we were opening the windows to our cabin to give it a sprucing-up for our stay. As I was trying to shake some of the sand out of the sheets, Percy was sneaking several pieces of blue saltwater taffy. I rolled my eyes. "You're supposed to be helping!" I hissed at him.

"You can't expect me to clean on an empty stomach," Percy retorted before he popped a piece of taffy in his mouth. "Want one, Lia? He asked me with his mouth full. I shook my head. Typical Percy. Then again, I think Mom told me once that boys usually thought of their stomachs first and my brother was no exception to that rule.

After the place was in order, the three of us went for a walk on the beach. While the water was cold, it was nice to feel the sand and seawater between my toes. Percy thought it was weird that I stood there for a few minutes with my eyes closed playing with the sand between my toes. But truthfully, it calmed me a bit. Like one of those little Japanese sand gardens with the small rake. Mom had gotten me one for Christmas once because she knew I liked them, but Gabe ended up turning it into his ashtray. I didn't have the heart to tell her what happened to it. So, when she asked me if I still liked to use it, I lied and told her I did because I figured that if I did still have it, I would use it.

We walked a little further down the beach and Percy, in true brother fashion, pushed me into the water. I fell on my butt and the waves beat against me. I stood up to run to chase after my brother to get him back, but when I looked down my clothes were dry. Needless to say, I started to have a mild panic attack. Why weren't my clothes wet? I fell in the water. They should be wet. Right? For a moment I thought maybe I was hallucinating. I looked at my mother to call her over to my freakout, but suddenly my clothes turned went and they clung tightly to my body.

Now I was really confused. Had I imagined my clothes were dry in the first place? Or was I imagining that they were suddenly wet? My brain seemed to have a hard time being able to accept either account. But thankfully, before I could go into full-blown freak-out mode, Percy ran by and taunted me. Okay, taunted me like a brother would do...not some school bully. It was enough to snap me out of my thoughts and get me to chase after him.

Mom laughed as I chased after him. Percy flapped his arms and made noises just like the seagulls we had been feeding blue corn chips. I ran through the water while Percy ran on the sand. Usually, Percy was much faster than I was, but I somehow managed to easily catch up to him. I launched myself at him and jumped onto his back. Which in retrospect probably wasn't the best idea either because now my brother was still pretending to be a stupid seagull, but I was on his back with him. Thank the gods that Mom was the only other person on the beach otherwise I likely would have been mortified.

Eventually, Percy came to a stop and dropped me on the sand beside the blanket my mother had laid out. Why he could possibly drop me on the blanket instead of the sand was beyond me. Boys are just stupid, I guess. Percy and I each sat on either side of Mom and leaned against her. I heard her sigh before she wrapped her arms around us. It was obvious that Mom loved us, no matter how often we screwed things up, which Percy did very frequently and I did sometimes.

Mom kissed each of our foreheads before she dug the candy out of her beach bag. She loved bringing home free samples from work...especially if it was blue. (Long story short: Gabe told her there was no such thing as blue food and Mom can be just as stubborn as me and Percy) We had quite a spread: blue jelly bean, blue saltwater taffy (which Percy already got into), blue Sixlets, blue gummy sharks, blue rock candy, blue caramel popcorn, and blue cotton candy. I ripped off some cotton candy and began munching on it. Percy went for the taffy...again.

Later that night, when it got dark, the tree of us somehow managed to make a fire. Percy and I were pretty much useless when it came to fire-making, but we tried to help mom...mostly by not getting in her way. Mom seemed to be good at everything. That sometimes made it that much harder to be such disappointments as children. You think between two kids at least one of us would be like her, but no. Percy and I were both miserable failures...the only difference was that I didn't fail quite as hard...but failed nonetheless.

For dinner, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, not the healthiest of dinners, but Mom said it was all about moderation. You needed to have a little fun with life and live a little. She then looked out toward the sea as Percy as I looked at each other knowingly. We wished Mom would follow her own advice, but it seemed that everything she did was for us...or Gabe. Never, ever for herself. Percy and I both felt a little guilty about that. Mom could have been so much more if it wasn't for the two of us.

Mom seemed to sense that the mood had changed, so she told a light-hearted story to lighten the mood. She told us of stories when she was a little girl before her parents had died. The stories she told us made us feel a little more related to her. Mom could get in as much mischief as Percy and me. She also revealed to us that one day, she wanted to be a writer and what books she would write. I smiled softly. My mom would be the best writer ever.

Percy eventually brought up the subject he always did when we came to Montauk - Dad. Don't get me wrong, I too wanted to hear about my father, but Percy had terrible timing. Mom was talking to us about one of the books she wanted to write and then bam! What can you tell us about our father? I wished I could have eased Mom into the subject a bit more, but Percy already opened his big fat mouth. I chewed my lip as I looked at Mom and her misty eyes. She always got misty eyes when she thought of our father.

"He was kind," Mom said with a sigh. "He was tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. I knew I was in love the moment I saw him."

"Yuck," I muttered under my breath, still rather immature about the subject of love. I made a disgusted expression with my face, which Mom didn't miss. She shook her head and threw her head back and laughed. She probably expected the reaction from Percy, not me. But still. Ew.

Mom tousled my hair. "You just wait, Lia," she chuckled. "One day, you'll find someone you fall head over heels for and you remember this conversation. And you remember that I told you so."

I rolled my eyes. Mom fished out a blue jelly bean from her candy bag. "I wish he could see you both," she said with a sigh before popping a jelly bean into her both. "He would be so proud of you both."

Percy and I exchanged glances once again. Would he really be proud of us? Honestly, as far as kids go, we were probably two of the hardest kids to raise. Not to mention that school wasn't exactly our thing. We were always asked not to come back to schools. We were terrible readers. Honestly, the deck was stacked against us and there wasn't really much to be proud of, but for some reason, Mom always was. She was always proud of us. It must be a mom thing.

"How old were we?" Percy asked. "When-when he left?"

Again, Percy's timing was impeccable.

Mom watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer." She smiled softly and looked around before returning her gaze to the flames. "Right here at this beach. This cabin."

"He knew us when we were babies, right?"

I rolled my eyes and responded before Mom could answer him. "Percy, were you paying attention at all in health class? It takes a lot longer than one summer for a baby to be born and Mom just said he was here for one summer."

Percy rolled his eyes. Mom shot me a look and patted my back. "He knew I was expecting. Neither of us knew it would be twins at the time. We were just thinking it would be one. But it was the best surprise of my life to find out there was going to be two of you." Mom paused for a moment, realizing she hadn't actually answered Percy's question. "He never saw either of you. He had to leave before you were born."

Call it a twin thing, but I could tell that Percy was feeling angry. The first time Mom had told me, I had been a little perturbed as well. But I had asked her the question years ago already. I hadn't realized that Percy hadn't yet asked her the question. I chewed my lip. I knew why he was angry. Our father had taken off on an ocean voyage, never to be heard or seen from again. Mom had to raise us on her own...and we were fairly difficult to boot. Then Smelly Gabe ended up in the picture. I knew what he was thinking. If my dad had stayed, everything could have been different. I got that. But there really wasn't any use dwelling on it because it wasn't like anything was going to change. Our father was dead. Mom still basically had to raise us on her own. And Gabe, well, I feared he would never be out of the picture.

"Are you sending us away again? To another boarding school?" Percy asked, completely changing the subject...again. He really needed to work on his timing.

Truthfully, I wanted to know the answer just as much as he did. Not that I would ever admit that. "Geez, Percy, we just got out of school," I groaned before I shoved a marshmallow in my mouth.

Mom pulled her marshmallow from the fire. She blew on it to put the flames out. "I don't know, honey," Mom said, her voice heavy. "I think...I think we'll have to do something."

"Because you don't want us around?" Percy asked.

I winced at his words. Again, the twin thing told me he regretted his words. But once again, Percy and his word vomit. I looked at Mom. Her eyes were welled with tears.

She looked at each of us before she grabbed our hands and squeezed. "I don't want to send you away. I have to. It is for your own good. I promise I will explain one day, but right now I just need you to trust me." Mom had been looking at Percy and then she glanced at me. "Both of you."

I nodded my head. There were only two people in this world I trusted: Percy and Mom. I wasn't about to stop trusting my Mom now. I leaned toward her and rested my head on her shoulder.

"Is it because we're not normal?" Percy asked.

Mom sighed and pulled him so that his head rested on her other shoulder. "You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy."

"It usually is," I mutter coming to Percy's defense.

"You don't realize how important you both are," Mom said. Her words struck me as odd. But I didn't question them. After all, it was Mom who told me I could be president some day. Mom sighed once more. "I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you would both finally be safe."

Both Percy and I raised our heads from her shoulder and simultaneously asked, "Safe from what?"

Mom looked between us as Percy and I made eye contact. The memories came flooding back. All the weird things that had happened to us over the years hit us like a ton of bricks. In every single school, something creepy had happened. Something was unsafe and we were forced to move or transfer schools. I looked at my mom curiously. Maybe it hadn't been our fault.

"I have tried to keep you both as close to me as I could," Mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option-the place your father wanted to send you. But I just...I just can't stand to do it."

"Where did our father want to send us?" I asked, focusing on my mother's words than the sudden realization I had earlier.

"Was it a school for special kids?" Percy asked.

Mom pursed her lips for a moment before she responded, "Not a school. More of a ...summer camp."

Both Percy and I were confused. Summer camp? First of all, why would a summer camp be so special? Also, didn't summer camps happen in summer? So why would the other schools have mattered?

"Mom, what aren't you telling us?" I asked.

She chewed her lip and shook her head. Tears brimming her eyes once more. "I'm sorry, Lia. I can't talk about it. Not yet." Mom glanced over at Percy and then back at me. There was something in her expression I could quite read. "Just know that I couldn't send you to that place because it might mean saying good-bye to you for good." Mom then turned toward the fire.

Percy and I looked at each other. We both knew better than to keep pressing the matter otherwise she would start to cry. The last thing either of us wanted was to make our mother cry. I popped a marshmallow into my mouth and allowed myself to fall back onto the sand to look up at the stars.

Eventually, we made our way back to the cabin. Mom and I were sharing the full-size bed in the corner, while Percy slept on the pullout couch. We readied for bed. Mom kissed Percy goodnight before he crawled into his bed on the other side of the room. I snuggled up against my mom as she read aloud to me. I had no idea what was happening in her book, but I loved it when mom read to me. It was one of my favorite childhood memories growing up.

Soon Percy's snores were louder than my Mom's voice. She paused and looked over at Percy before she looked down at me. We giggled at my brother's expense and she set the library book down on the bedside table. Mom turned the light out and lay down beside me. While I knew I was getting older, I still snuggled up against my mom like I did when I was little.

I stayed silent until I heard another one of Percy's snores. He was asleep. Now was as good a time as any to ask her. "Mom," I whispered.

"Yes, sweetie?" she asked gently squeezing my arm with her hand.

"I-I know you're keeping something from me and Percy. I want to know what it is."

"Lia."

"Mom." I knew I probably shouldn't be pressing her. But I was. Sometimes I was just as impulsive as my brother...sometimes.

Mom sighed. "You always have been a little more perceptive that your brother."

I sat up so that I was leaning on my elbow. "You can tell me, Mom. I won't tell Percy."

"It's not that simple. It involves both of you."

"Would it explain why all the weird stuff keeps happening to us?"

Mom abruptly sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. "What weird stuff keeps happening?" She looked at me pointedly. I knew I wasn't getting out of this situation until I answered her.

I winced. I too apparently had the curse of word vomit. I hadn't meant to tell her, but it just came out. My bottom lip trembled. "You'll think I'm crazy," I whispered. "I'll be locked away forever."

"Sweetheart, I promise you. I won't," Mom said. She cupped my face in her hands and looked me in the eyes. "You can tell me anything, Lia."

Maybe if I started out small and worked my way up to the really weird stuff. Just kinda dangle my toes in the water. "When-when we were at the beach and Percy pushed me in the water…" I paused, but Mom kept looking at me to continue. I took a deep breath. "At first...at first my clothes were still dry and then I thought about how they shouldn't be dry and then they were wet. I'm not sure which time I was imagining. Please don't send me to the insane asylum." Tears were starting to fall down my cheeks.

Mom pressed her lips against my forehead. "I believe you, Lia," she whispered. "I don't think you're crazy."

Her words made me feel a little better, but once again words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them. "You don't even know the half of it."

Mom pulled back slightly and looked at me with a furrowed brow. "What else aren't you telling me, Lia?"

I couldn't help it, I started to cry. "Mommy, is there something wrong with me?"

Mom was immediately there to comfort me. She quickly enveloped me in her arms and held me tight. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, Ophelia Jackson," Mom whispered to me. She rocked me and hummed a lullaby she would sing to me when I younger. I clung to my mother, still crying.

Then out of nowhere a terrible storm began to pummel the earth outside. Lightning flashed so many times that it almost seemed as if the sun was out. It took about four thunderclaps for Percy to finally sit upright with his eyes wide. Mom looked somewhat nervous, but hurricane was all she said.

While science hadn't been one of my good subjects, I was pretty sure that it was too early for hurricane season...let alone for Long Island to get a hurricane. And yet, we were apparently in the middle of one. Through all the storm sounds, came an angry unfamiliar bellow I didn't recognize. I clung tightly to the blankets that covered me.

Please let it stop. Please let it stop.

There was a new sound outside the cabin-someone yelling and pounding on our cabin door. Who would be stupid enough to come and check on us? Unless it was a nearby neighbor who had seen us and wanted to offer us shelter.

Mom quickly sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the door. Needless to say, I was shocked to see Grover...from school standing outside our door in the pouring rain. Only something wasn't quite right about him. He-he was different. Although, I could have been hallucinating again. Maybe Mom should send me away to the asylum.

"Searching all night!" Grover gasped. He looked first at Percy, then at me, then back to Percy. "What were you two thinking?"

Mom seemed to be handling Grover a lot better than we were. In fact, she looked more terrified by us than Grover.

Meaning that I was very likely hallucinating.

"Percy, Lia," Mom shouted to be heard over the rain. "What didn't you two tell me?"

Percy blinked slowly, his eyes were focused on the floor near Grover. I'll confess, my eyes were there too. Maybe I wasn't hallucinating if Percy could see them too.

"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" Grover yelled. "It's right behind me! DIdn't one of you tell her?"

What I didn't know then was that Grover had cursed in Ancient Greek...and I had understood him perfectly. So, did Percy. But both of us were too focused on Grover. Not by the fact that he had somehow managed to find us in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. No, we were both shocked by the fact that Grover wasn't wearing pants. And where his legs should have been…

But Mom snapped us out of it. Neither of us had ever heard the tone she used then. "Perseus! Ophelia! One of you better tell me right now!"

Percy and I both pointed a finger at the other. While I had kinda sorta started to tell her, neither of us wanted to be the one to tell her right now. Mom then turned toward me. I groaned. Why couldn't Percy do it? Why did I always have to be the one to do the right thing.

I quickly spouted off some words about Mrs. Dodds, our former math teacher and how she had tried to kill us...although I left out the part about how I actually almost died. I was going to end it there, but Grover coughed the words fruit stand. So, then I told her about the three old ladies knitting giant socks and how they snipped the yarn. I finished up by asking her not to send me to the insane asylum.

Mom looked deathly pale in the flashes of lightning. Thinking quickly, still in her nightgown, she grabbed her purse before she tossed Percy his rain jacket and me my rain jacket. "Get to the car. All three of you. GO!"

I was slightly frozen, but Percy knew exactly how to deal with me. He ran from the pullout couch over to my bed and yanked my arm before he put the hood of my jacket on my head. He then tugged me by the arm as we followed Grover outside.

"Do you see them too?" Percy asked me as we ran. He was pointing at Grover's backside.

I nodded my head.

Where Grover's legs should have been, was a shaggy hindquarter. And where his feet should have been. There were cloven hooves. But Grover and his backside were the least of our concerns at the moment.

* * *

Author's Note: These cold days from school have been very helpful to my writing. Haha. Again, life got in the way since I last updated. I got sick. My godmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. A friend died. My grandpa died. I'm doing okay, but I had a lot going on the last few months. Hoping life slows down. But like Lia said, when you tell the gods your plans-they laugh.

To those who reviewed, a HUGE thank you!

*fanfictionnet: hoqwaarts, LPWomer, nixdragon, WaywardJules, CarlyLynn, Understanding the Inevitable, Loonuh-Lovegood, Slow Dancing In the Snow, KeepCalmLoveMultiplieFandoms, Snow Treasures, Saige Marie, CrystalVixen93, Green Lilly, AGBreads, 1seddiefan

*AO3: magic713

*Quotev: shannon


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